No Use For A Name has a special place in my heart. They, along with Blink 182 are what got me really into rock music. Some of their songs, I considered my “favorite” at one point in my life. One of them is “Friends Of The Enemy” from the album Hard Rock Bottom. I highly suggest you try some of their “old” stuff. It’s strong and will leave a lasting impression on you. All of their material up until that album was a gradual growth and perhaps, maturity of the band. But with Keep Them Confused in 2005, I can say I was heartbreakingly disappointed. I didn’t like the album at all. I thought they were aged past their prime. I thought that the politics and other social B.S. had gotten the better of their band.

But OH!, how wrong I was. Maybe they took a hint and went back to their old roots? This new album, The Feel Good Record Of The Year is as melodic as melodic punk rock gets. Yes, I did just sort of coin that genre, but as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, melodies and vocals far outweigh the instrumentals for me. If you are like me, then what are you waiting for? Put your name down for a copy! Tony Sly does an amazing job of singing, and not yelling or screaming as many punk rocks have turned to. I URGE you to just play that first song. One chance, and you will be hooked. You can listen to this album on a lonely winter night as well as a summer cruise with the convertible top down (or windows).

For those who have never heard Nufan’s stuff, or even heard of the band, start here and dig through YouTube videos of their older songs. I’m one very music connoisseur today.

I’m not going to lie. Reviewing a band as diverse and unique as DeVotchKa is a little intimidating; not to mention this being their first album I’ve listened through. I personally can’t describe the band any better than their Wiki page: “DeVotchKa is a four piece multi-instrumental and vocal ensemble that fuses Romani, Greek, Slavic, Bolero, and Mariachi music with American punk and folk roots.” See what I mean by diverse and unique? They started off playing burlesque shows before breaking it big with “How It Ends” and playing at the Bonnaroo music festival in ‘06. Now they’re kicking off their biggest tour yet at Coachella, this April.

My expectations for A Mad & Faithful Telling weren’t entirely high so there wasn’t any chance of disappointment for this album, but I’ve listened through it a few times now and this is truly a work of art. They really separate themselves from the crowd with something so much more different but it comes out divine. It is a universally beautiful album in the sense that everybody will enjoy it. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the average person can listen to this on their way to work, but if they had to, they wouldn’t be complaining. The vocals, the instruments, the rhythm–it’s all just a wonderful blend and mixture of an audible-harmony.

Personally, no track sticks out as a favorite because they were all rendered so well. Each individual song shines bright enough to light up a small city. A Mad & Faithful Telling is a melting pot of far too many genres to give proper comparison, but it shouldn’t really matter since you will get this album and see for yourself ;). Now, you’re getting sleepy.. your eyes are growing heavy.. you’re opening the iTunes store..

This is it. Panic’s new album…and I’m not going to beat around the bush…it’s dismal and disappointing. And…I wasn’t expecting very much at all. I had heard that they were changing directions with their music, which would be a good thing, considering their first album was basically a copy of Fall Out Boy, but with even stupider lyrics and even worse vocals.

You see, on the face of it, Pretty. Odd. is an exciting new album for them to really show what type of band they are and the direction they are going in. In fact, I have no doubt that some people will like it. There are girls out there that will draw immense pleasure from this. But if you actually listen to it, you don’t hear originality at all. What you hear, is just stolen melodies from old films and stage plays. I just learned today from Wikipedia that the band began by covering Blink-182 songs. This was no surprise, since they are still copying others. You might argue that it’s just “influence” but one go-through of this album and you’d be convinced. Actually, to be honest, they haven’t changed AT ALL. They have the same style, same tempo, and same tacky song titles. Perhaps they say it best themselves in “We’re So Starving”. “You don’t have to worry ’cause we’re the same band.”

“Nine In The Afternoon” was their single released months ago to build hype for this album. Obviously they consider this their best song, and do you know what? Radio stations haven’t been playing it. Rightly so.

“She Has The World” and “Do You Know What I’m Seeing” both begin with extremely familiar melodies.

Nothing about this album is exciting. Their lyrics feel disgustingly elementary. How can they be a dance/pop band and have 10 seconds of silence in the beginning of every song and have so many boring filler songs? I hate to say this, but you really need to listen to this album to know what I’m on about…You are left with an empty, “what did I just listen to?” feeling.

MySpace is one of those things that people just LOVE to hate on, yet you know that once they are done bashing it, they are going to go home, log onto their account, check for friend requests, new comments, messages, and possibly change their profile song. It is just another one of those “trends” that will enjoy its fair share of attention, and then die down as it is deemed uncool. Many people have moved onto Facebook. Like MySpace, many modern bands are just a trend. They’ll have a hit song or even a hit album, but disappear in a few weeks, and only surface a few years later with a lackluster album which will be the signal of their demise. I can list bands aplenty that fit this description. Some young bands like Panic! At the Disco had potential. They released the right type of music at the right time. We readily accepted them as they appeared between Fall Out Boy albums. Girls got wet listening to their singles. I loved their dance beats, but hated their digitalized, prepubescent voices.

I also didn’t like the fact that homeless people who camp out by taco trucks, strumming their guitars, with a hat full of coins in front of them, can play better music than Panic! At The Disco can at a live performance. Their shows were weak, their music even weaker. And their momentum died down as emo, another “trend” began to fade away.

Which leads me onto today’s review. The Hush Sound’s Goodbye Blues, is set to be released on March 18, 2008. This album really combines the unlikely combo of soft piano/vocals that are Ben Folds-esque with the dance beats of Panic! At The Disco. If you only pick one totally random song to listen to off the album, you will NOT know their music. If you switch around through the album, you might not get a single soft song, and just think they are a copy of Panic!. But in reality, it is a great lineup of songs. The ordering is perfect. This album is perfect if you are not in any certain mood. If you just want some, any, music on, then you will cherish this.

Goodbye Blues jukes you around like a star quarterback on steroids. Some songs, like “As You Cry” and “That’s Okay,” really display solid/polished vocals. We’ve got a winner here. I promise you that their songs will be used in some upcoming movies.

The Gutter Twins is a 4+ year old project by Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan. They began recording the album in late 2003 and it took until now to finish. Being that both men have a great musical background, this album has quite a bit of hype built up for me. Before I began listening to Saturnalia, I did some reading up of their histories and some early reviews of this album.

This album is grungy, VERY dark, and deep. Usually, I can enjoy any type of rock, but they sound like a typical Seattle area grunge band. Most of their songs have good parts (usually in the beginning), and then they just leave you with a sense of dreary disappointment. Songs like “Seven Stories Underground” and “Who Will Lead Us” are just pure album filler. Annoyingly, many of these songs have the same beat and rhythm. The vocals are deep and hardly display any sort of melody.

I enjoyed “The Body”, “Idle Hands”, and bits of others, but having listened to it before bed last night, and on the way to work, I found that getting through the entire album was difficult. I was always skipping songs as they just began to fade into distant noise. It was like pushing a piano up a hill…it felt like a task just to listen to everything. Therefore, I cannot recommend Saturnalia to anyone; even pure enthusiasts of lazy grunge music.

Most of their songs are posted to their MySpace page, where you can get a taste of music that will suck the energy out of you. The type of person who chooses this as their profile song is in depression, and probably has a black background with pictures of dark landscapes…it isn’t emo by any means, just devoid.